Click on the image above to read Nettie’s 2011 Sewing Project Report.

The 2011 Annual newsletter is here.  Click on the image above to read about some of MCV’s success stories, meet the newly strengthened Malawian board and more.

Dyson with the pump

No success better than this.   #4

A Friend of the Hoe

Dyson Mulongo, age 23 is a successful graduate of the Malawi Children’s Village (MCV).  Out here one stops being an orphan at age 18.  His father, a subsistence farmer hoeing the fields with his mother every day in the rainy season, died when he was 8 years old.  “My father went to the hospital and came home still sick and died at home”.  To this day he does not know why.  His mother had to care for his three brothers and one sister.  It was a struggle to send them to primary school and impossible to send them to secondary school because in Malawi one must pay school fees.  He was a bright student, smart enough to be selected by the government to go to Melosa Secondary School in Zomba.

He appealed to his grandparents.  Although they lived by subsistence also, they took his appeal to the village headman who said he and his brothers and sister would be eligible for support from MCV. In this part of the world, if either parent dies, you are considered an orphan.  As a single parent, the difficult life here becomes almost impossible.

MCV responded by paying for his school fees and after secondary school graduation to the Natural Resource college in Lilongwe where he specialized in irrigation technology.  His three brothers are in school, two sponsored at MCV’s Gracious Secondary School, and one in primary school.  Unfortunately as is often the case out here, his sister dropped out of school at age 15 and got married.

Dyson is an impressive successful young adult and the go-to person for all the irrigation schemes in the MCV catchments area.  But more of that later.

The plight of orphans in Malawi, most often as a result of HIV/AIDS, is legendary.  Orphans in any part of the world are dealt a tough set of cards in the game of life.  Out here being an orphan can be and is life threatening.  In a subsistence culture that struggles with adequate rain to raise a yearly supply of maize, an orphan is another mouth to feed.  For the very young, when you look at these children’s growth charts, you can identify when their parent died.  They stop growing!  It is dramatic!

In 1997 Chakunja Sibale, a clinical officer, together with his friend Kevin Denny and several other 1964 Peace Corp volunteers, had a vision of how to help and solve the possibilities.  They had no funding, only a story to tell.   With the help of many returned Peace Corps Volunteers from Malawi, Friends of Malawi, several churches and Rotary Clubs mainly in New York state, Kansas and Anchorage, the Malawi Children’s village was begun. The rest is history.  Over 8000 orphans have been assisted my MCV.

The vision was not an orphanage.  It was a village based orphan program whereby the orphans would stay in their home village with a guardian or grandparent.   MCV would help them.  With the village chief, MCV would identify and train two village volunteers, supply them with a bicycle, a uniform, a small monthly stipend.   The volunteers would monitor the care the orphans would receive.  MCV would provide additional clothes, repair and build village houses, and when necessary because of poor rains, supply additional maize.  The target area was the 37 villages that surround what has become the core campus.  As the program matured it became obvious that “it takes a village to raise a child”. Consequently MCV has been able to assist the village primary schools (through the  adopt a school program) with additional classrooms, desks, and books. It has been developing irrigation schemes such that villagers   could raise more that one crop a year.  .  It has provided secondary school fees. Several USA based churches have helped with primary school construction and also provided cement, and benches to the village’s churches.

Now on the core campus, a technical school and secondary school has been built, both for sponsored orphans and private pay students providing income for the school.  A nursery was built for infants and under twos whose mothers had died. The original nursery was transferred to a British NGO, Open Arms, who built a magnificent facility and now have 40 under 3s in residence who will remain there until they are healthy enough to return to their village.

Over 8000 orphans have been assisted since the beginning which brings us back to Dyson Mulongo. After graduation from the Natural Resources College in 2007 he returned as a volunteer at MCV.  He walked or biked because he felt an obligation “I am what I am because of MCV” To show appreciation he worked at MCV on a volunteer basis from 07-08.

In 2009 after the rainy season, Dyson, with the support of a New York Rotary, designed an irrigation project for Mutaka village.  It involved building a brick water tank, using a petrol pump to pump water from the river to the tank and water the gardens by a gravity feed system.   They did their first planning of maize in Oct 7, 2009 and had a very successful harvest 3 months later.

In the meantime he was submitting written reports and sending pictures to Rotary every two weeks…They promised continued support and asked him to design a project for another village, but this time for $2000.

For the 2010 growing season he chose Mitawa Village. His design was based upon using treadle pumps.  He had none.

Unknown to Dyson, Jerry Turner, the early instigator of treadle pumps for the irrigation program was coming mid June with a plan to buy 50 treadle pumps.  The new pumps were manufactured in Tanzania and had three improved features:  sturdier, increased output volume and came with simple spare parts.

Jerry and Dyson traveled to Mitawa, met with the village garden committee and said that if the village would clear land for gardens over the next week, they would receive one treadle pump.  In one week the land was cleared.

Then they challenged the group to prepare growing beds and furrows in a week, and if they did they would receive two treadle pumps. They did!

It was now late July.  Seeds were purchased by Jerry, and by August 3, the Maize was knee high. One third of a Hector was under cultivation. No fertilizer was used.  The village had an excellent harvest.

The first village, Mutaka, after the rainy season in 2010 planted almost 3 hectors of tomatoes and by May were selling tomatoes on the market.

It is hard to convey what this means to a village.  Every February when we usually come, it is at the end of what everyone hopes has been a good rainy season.  It is before the maize is ready to be picked and dried.  It what is known as the Njala time.  Njala translates from Chichewa as hunger.  There is always a greater or lesser amount of Njala when we come.  Food security is a constant issue in every villager’s mind.  Irrigation and good farming practices are the answer.

Dyson spoke of MCV.  “I can not imagine what my life would be like.  How I would live in this world? I have friends from the village my age.  They are married, have 6 kids and are selling charcoal.  They have no future, they have no hope”.

“I have a vision.  I have hope”  “I am the first sponsored orphan form my village who has been successful.”

“I felt that I owed MCV to serve the people.  In America you all have very nice homes, enough food, and yet you come all this way to help us, why can’t we do the same?”

“MCV is like my mother and father.  This is what I am.  If it were not for MCV, I would be a friend of the hoe, hoeing in the garden everyday.”

Yesterday when I awoke and told my lovely wife I loved her, her affectionate reply was “I want petrol”. So while I met with the District Medical Officer in the morning, Ruth, accompanied by Victor, one of the villagers who serves as our handyman out here, were on the search for petrol.  They found it!  When you ask her where she got it?  “ If  I tell you, I’ll have to shoot you”  Translation…. from the Black Market well away from Mangochi.  Petrol is again absent from the country. But we had a full tank!  So off to work!  It was not to be.

Today Florence, the HIV/AIDS outreach worker was to travel to the villages with Ruth to hand out school uniforms.  She called this AM to say that her Uncle had died in Dedza about 2 hours from here and she would be going to the funeral.  This was shortly after our night guard, Patrick, came back from his nearby village to let is know that his 24 year old niece also died last night.  He needed extra money for the funeral arrangements.

To understand the impact of death, beyond the emotional trauma to the family, you need to understand the ceremony that surrounds the death and burial of your family member or coworker.  I think it impacts the gross national product of this country.

If your coworker dies, it is your employer along with the family who makes the arrangements for the burial.  The whole office or business shuts down.  Large numbers of friends and coworkers gather at the deceased’s home, women are inside, men are outside.  From inside the house continuous wailing can usually be heard (some from professional wailers).  The men sitting outside are in small groups usually silent only speaking greetings when another arrives.  Food is served to all.  In the Muslim community here, this is traditionally a 24 hour  to a several day  process .  The Christians are a bit faster.  But funerals are a big part of daily life and they take a lot of time.

So if there would be abbreviated village visits this day, at least my friend in Blantyre would be able to secure some additional car parts for the 1996 Subaru. We had it on consignment and were considering buying it from a good friend.  We need a shock absorber, Subaru spark plugs, and some rubber boot covers for the drive shaft and steering column.  At exorbitant costs (about 30-50% more expensive than in the States) they were available from the dealer in Limbe, the town contiguous to Blantyre.  It was not to be.

The College Students were rioting and the road between Blantyre and Limbe was closed.  They should have been rioting because of the Inspector General of the Police had visited and  questioned  one of the political science faculty on why he was discussing in class the recent events in  Egypt. (The faculty took this one on in a protest).  The students were upset by the way the government was changing the requirements and payback for student loans.

Our friend never made it to Subaru before having to return to Mangochi.  So much for this plan!  You always have to have a plan B and C and for safety D also and be prepared that none of them will work.

It is hard to explain the difficulty of getting anything done in this country. Everyone complains about it, especially middle class Malawians.  We see the humor in it….government bureaucracy gone wild.  There are many examples.  Petrol and lack of foreign exchange is just one.  Upsetting a bunch of folks was the governments decision to invalidate all passports, and issue new ones.  Felix, the deputy at MCV, had a passport good to 2015. . ..now no longer valid.  They opened the offices from 6 am to midnight.  People started lining up a 4 am.  It has been a mess.
The reason for this Felix suspects was the government needed the money Who knows?? It has never been explained to anyone’s satisfaction.  And everyone who owns a vehicle talks about the two day process to get it registered .only in the two major cities…and so it goes.

These and other stories make the success of the  Malawi Children’s Village even more remarkable.  Started by Malawians in 1997 with the help of a former Peace Corps Volunteer from the Mangochi area, it has assisted over 8000 orphans in the 37 villages that surround the Center. The earliest orphans are now returning as teachers, clinical officer, agriculture extension workers, physical therapists and nurses.

They would never have had a chance.  We personally know a dozen or more of the graduates.  They are wonderful young adults, making significant contributions to their country. It is a testimony to the vision, tenacity and perseverance of the Malawians who run MCV and the many individual contributors and USA Rotary clubs who have made this happen.

Success does not get any better that this.

Tom and Ruth share tea with old friends at their Palm Beach home (2008)

Two of our Malawian neighbors were already sitting on our Khonde (porch) waiting for us when we arrived at our thatched roof cottage at Palm Beach at noon last Saturday.  Over the next 6 hours until nightfall, we (mainly Ruth) held court for total of 15 visitors

A blown tire from jumping off the road to miss a truck was the only eventful event from our trip from Blantyre to our cottage at Palm Beach.  Before we arrived, we stopped in Mangochi to buy another tire (you never travel without a spare).

Most of our visitors came to greet us on our return and tell of their family happenings since our last visit.  Usually it is about the status of their gardens, comments about the dry January (which does not bode well for quality of maize that will be produced) and their family’s health. Always they ask us about our life this past year, inquire about our family and how was our travel.  Interspersed are the sickness and death stories.

One of our favorite night watchman who had early tea on our khonde every day, probably in his fifties, died last October.  English 28, a coal black, tall, striking visitor from the next door village, lost his newborn son two weeks ago. Dolores, in her late 20’s, a favorite of Ruth’s , who she found a job for, is in the hospital and not doing well with TB associated with HIV.  Death is accepted here as a very real and frequent part of life.  When Ruth told English how sorry she was about the death of his son.  His comment was “It happens”.  There is the same sadness, but death is strikingly more a part of daily life here.

And then there was the gossip, complaints about the government, and the requests! The gossip is much the same as in the states.  Who is cheating on their spouses! What friendships have fallen apart in the last year and why?  Who lost their jobs and what they did to lose it.  As is at home, there sometimes is a kernel of truth, but there is always another side.

The government complaints don’t come from the villagers (because what the government does or does not do has very little impact on them).  The complaints come from what I would describe as the Malawian middle class—working as civil servants, clinical officers, leaders of non government organizations (NGO’s).  The fuel shortages are driving everyone “crazy” (it is a foreign exchange issue); the incredibly cumbersome bureaucracy (our friend Henry Kangunga spent three days in queues in Blantyre registering his car).  There are rotating blackouts of
electricity almost every night because of lack of generating capacity.  (Our new LED headlamps are very useful).  For us, it is a great source of stories and humor. We are here for a month.  It you ask a Malawian about how they deal with this, the universal response “It is terrible…”  But they have no alternative.

The requests are unique to this part of the world. In the first 24 hours they included chimanga (maize), tennis shoes, milk powder, school fees, bicycle, tubes and tires for a bicycle, electricity for a house, soap and something for his
daughter “who had no blood”.

Malawians are very polite and these requests are from villagers whom we know. The requests are genuine.   The soap and food requests we can usually honor with the extra soap we always bring and the small packets of rice and sugar that Ruth always buys when she arrives.  For the more substantial requests we let them know that most all of our extra money goes to the Malawi Children’s Village but we will see how much of our money is left at the “end of the day”.  When we leave, most of our clothes and especially tennis shoes stay here.  One year when we left our cottage, I drove out in bare feet because I had an extra pair of shoes at the Malawi Children’s Office down the road.  I must admit there is a certain satisfaction in giving your stuff away…especially to the folks from the village whom you know.

After a few days, it is easy to get into the rhythm of life here, very much set by the sunrise and sunset (almost equal in this part of the world 6 am to 6 pm).  At 5am (to beat the sun, we are in bed by 8 pm)) on our first morning at Palm Beach, we took off on our morning run up the mile of dirt road to the main highway.  On our return, there was this great commotion behind us.  It was the running club with matching Alaska Pacific University Fun Run Tee shirts who were trying to get our attention.   The running group had been established by the 15 faculty and students
on a work/study program from APU a few weeks earlier.  We had heard rumors that they existed and might surprise us.  They did.  With much fanfare, we struggled to keep up with them back to our cottage.   We have been running with them every morning.  More truthfully, trying to keep up.

Yesterday, I was running ahead with one of the 14 y/o boys, Ruth and the others were behind us.  I thought I understood his question, but had to repeat it,”Where did you find her?”  I was tempted to say, the local Kandodo store, but realizing that English is a second language for him told him the truth (secondary school). His response:  “she is a wonderful woman”.  It does not get much better than this, and I could not agree more.

As I write this it is 7 am at the cottage we are waiting for petrol (gas) to arrive.  We had a several day respite, and then nothing.  The rumors are it should arrive today…and we have cell phone connections up and down the highway watching for the fuel truck.  We have just enough to make it into Mangochi to refuel, perhaps a bit more.  In the meantime, you change your plans for the day and drink Chombe Tea.  As the locals say with a smile, “This is Malawi”!!

We arrived two days ago. The first challenge -getting from the airport.  We had warning.  We received a brief email missive in JoBurg from old Malawian friends from Peace Corps days.  Dr Dick Chilemba and his wife Leona were with us at Nhkata Bay  45 years ago.. ”Severe fuel shortages……working on getting you from the airport to our home”.   As I write this we are grounded at their home.  The search for petrol is on.

We are in Blantyre- the commercial capital of Malawi.  It was named for the birthplace of Dr David Livingstone (Blantyre, Scotland) the first non African to see the “Lake of Stars” (Lake Malawi) so named by the sparkling reflections of the noonday sun..

We are on our annual trip to Malawi Children’s Village-up country, 4 hours from here.  It is also our annual trip to the have-not part of the world.

As a good Anglican friend, one of our MCV Board member colleague from North Carolina says “It is good for the soul”.  Once you settle in and get into the rhythm of life here, new insights take on many dimensions.  There are new lessons each day.

You don’t realize how dependent we are on oil-world over.…that is until you don’t have it.  Buses don’t run, private vehicles sit idle.  Workers stay home.  Normal activities of each day are put on hold.

At times like these here, those living in subsistence fare much better.  They hardly notice.  They don’t use petrol nor do they have electricity.   One’s daily food almost exclusively is from what they raise and have stored form last year.   A cash economy does not exist.  Put away any idealized notion of what this life is like.  Subsistence has a great price: lack of clean drinking water; pit latrines or the bush for a bathroom;  a thatched room , even good ones, that will leak in the blinding rain that frequents this time of year; lack of access to medical care especially Malaria a frequent killer in the lakeshore area where we live when we are here.   This all equals high infant morality, and a shortened lifespan.  When we arrive soon at our cottage we will hear of those whom we know have died in the last year.  There will be many.

Malawi is not a place for the impatient.  Those who live by a well planned day would not do well here.

This was yesterday. Petrol was found; we were packed and planned on leaving a 1 pm. Shuqar,the driver, had arrived at 6:30 am, early enough so the car could get an updated registration from the Motor Borough.  We were well ahead of the curve!!! Or so I thought.

We sent Shuqar (who works forDr Dick Chilemba) off for the registration but had not heard from him by 12.   I called on his cell phone (a useful innovation widely used here).  The registration had not happened today, but maybe tomorrow.  Confused, I called Dick who had the real story.  When Shuqar arrived, they first asked to see
his license which had expired.   The car was impounded!!

Fortunately Shuqar called Dick (who is well known and one of the senior physicians in the country) who went to the police station, paid a fine, got the car, and started the registration process.  It involved a lot of queues: one for the initial paperwork, another to pay the fee at a bank, a third for issuing the certificate…..and the queues are long and the bureaucrats are slow.   As our Malawi friends say with a smile, “This is Malawi”.

Long story short, we were in Blantyre for 2 ½ days before we left for our cottage.

As I have noted in the past, at home when I am taking a shower in the morning, I go through my plan for the day.  It usually happens.  Here I use to do the same, however here no day goes as planned. Each day is a new adventure and there are always plenty of them.

The 2010 Annual Newsletter is here.  Click on the image above to read about Village Volunteer Stanford Mangoni, get the latest on MCV’s irrigation projects, and more.

Gracious Private Secondary School is located in Mangochi district, Malawi. It is on the shores of the lake, and is part of the Malawi Children’s Village (MCV). Gracious school was born on 15th January, 2006. Since then it has shown both good and bad things.
On the good side the school has professional teachers. The teachers support students in achieving good academic performances. They know how students can understand the lessons individually. Being qualified, they help candidates to know how exams can be passed. Also, the teachers are hard workers because they work even during their off-duty times.
In addition to having qualified teachers the school is a co-educational facility. Co-education allows equal access to education for both boys and girls. Students, boys and girls alike, work hard because they compete for the same positions. Also, upon graduating, students coming from co-educational schools are able to communicate well with everybody regardless of sex.
Even though the school gives equal opportunities for education to both boys and girls, it has few female teachers. Actually, this shows that there is not a good presentation of females in education at the school. While the male teachers try hard, they do not encourage the girls enough, and the girls have fewer role-models at the school.
Another negative aspect of Gracious is that it lacks motivational programmes at the school. For instance, successful personalities do not come to visit the school. As a result there is a lack of varied and inspiring role-models on campus. The teachers are good, but sometimes the learners feel like they get little encouragement from those outside the school. This can lead the scholars to learn without a clear vision for their goals.
In conclusion, as we have shown, there are both positive and negative things about Gracious Private Secondary School. On the good side the school is co-educational and has professional teachers. On the bad side, few of those teachers are women and there is a lack of motivational programming. If these problems were solved Gracious would truly be a school where students could work to their highest level. Still, Gracious is the best school that we know.

Gracious Private Secondary School is one of the most popular private schools in Malawi. The school is located to the south of Lake Malawi in a district called Mangochi. The school consists of many students both male and female from various districts in Malawi. It should be known that the school has both good things and bad things about it.

To begin with, Gracious provides a conducive learning environment. It is located on the lake shore which brings fresh air. It is a very quiet place free from disturbances like pubs which can bring a lot of noise and attract the attention of students. Furthermore the school has good infrastructures compared to other schools in Malawi. The buildings are well roofed and ventilated, and surrounded by lawns, fish ponds, trees and flowers which beautify the campus. The school also has good teaching facilities, and well equipped laboratories for physical science, biology, and computers. As a result, many students are able to pass their examinations with flying colours because of the good facilities.

Apart from the good things about Gracious, there are also some bad things. One of the bad things is that it has inadequate equipment for entertainment. There is not much for the students to do when they are not studying. Although this is true, the students at the school do not consider this to be a really big problem because they are always busy with their education. They know that time is money.

Entertainment aside, the school has good, professional teachers who are very knowledgeable, skilled, and friendly. They are professionals in terms of the way they dress, teach, handle issues concerning students, and also the way they communicate with students. These skilled teachers know their roles as educators. This seen in the way the students look at them as their parents, judges, role models, and advisors. The students really appreciate the knowledge that teachers impart to them.

While the teachers are good, Gracious School has another academic issue that is not so good. Out of nineteen teachers at the school, only two are women. The female teachers play a big role in the way that they act as role models to the girls. However, since there are few of them the female students lack good role models of women in education.
In conclusion, the points listed above are some of the good and bad things about Gracious Private Secondary School. As they say, every rose has its thorns. Although the school has some bad things about it, students really like it because it helps them to perform well.